Fastener feeder with fastener size screening

Abstract

An exemplary fastener feeder includes a pair of guiders, a slot cover and a blocker. The guiders define a sliding slot therebetween. Each guider includes a sloped part and a level part, bodies of the fasteners are capable of being received in the sliding slot, and a head of each fastener is capable of sliding down from the sloped parts and stopping on the level parts. The slot cover defines an opening for providing a path through which a fastener pickup device can pass through and engage with a fastener located on the level parts. The blocker is located below the level parts. When the fastener pickup device moves the fastener head engaged therewith away from the opening and a length of the fastener is greater than a distance between the blocker and the level parts, the fastener is blocked by blocker and disengaged from the fastener pickup device.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]1. Technical Field[0002]The disclosure relates to fastener feeders such as screw feeders and, specifically, to a fastener feeder comprising a blocker that can screen out unwanted fasteners.[0003]2. Description of Related Art[0004]In manufacturing, fasteners such as screws are commonly used when assembling products. To speed production, screw feeder machines are employed. Typically, a worker obtains a screw from a screw feeder and applies the screw to the product with an electric screwdriver. In loading screw feeders, mishaps can occur where similar but different screws are accidentally loaded into the same screw feeder and the worker is unaware of the situation. In such case, the worker may damage the product when the worker applies the wrong screw to the product with the electric screwdriver.[0005]Therefore, it is desirable to provide a fastener feeder that can overcome the shortcomings described.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS[0006]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]A slot cover 16 is configured above the sliding slot 13. The slot cover 16 comprises a pair of fixing parts 164 fixed on the guiders 12, 14, respectively. In this embodiment, the fixing parts 164 vertically extend from two opposite long sides of a main elongated body of the slot cover 16, and are welded (or screwed) to the guiders 12, 14. The elongated body of the slot cover 16 is parallel with top edges of the guiders 12, 14. A distance between the elongated body of the slot cover 16 and the top edges of the guiders 12, 14 is greater than a height of screw heads of the screws 40, thereby providing appropriate space for guided movement of the screw heads of the screws 40. An opening 162 is defined in one end of the elongated body of the slot cover 16. The opening is located above a bottom end of the sliding slot 13 that is between the level parts 132 of the guiders 12, 14. The opening 162 is sized for receiving the screwdriver 50 therethrough, so that the screwdriver 50 can engage with the head of the bottommost screw 40. In addition, the size of the opening 162 is less than that of the screw head of each screw 40, for preventing the bottommost screw 40 from being picked up vertically by the screwdriver 50. In other words, once the screwdriver 50 is engaged with the bottommost screw 40, the bottommost screw 40 can initially only be moved along a horizontal direction until the screw head is clear of the slot cover 16.

Problems solved by technology

In loading screw feeders, mishaps can occur where similar but different screws are accidentally loaded into the same screw feeder and the worker is unaware of the situation.

In such case, the worker may damage the product when the worker applies the wrong screw to the product with the electric screwdriver.

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